I have just acquired a Model 1865 Springfield rifle that was among thos given to the Union Pacific by the Goverment in 1866 for protection against indian raids. According to the provenance, this gun was assigned as equipment to Baggage Car 24. Does anyone know where I can locate information on this car, i.e., when and where built, when scrapped and possibly a picture of that car or a similar car?

kenneth.willis@marad.dot.gov

Your best bet would be to contact the Union Pacific Railroad Museum in Council Bluff, Iowa. Their archives may have the answer to your question.

awalker1829@yahoo.com

> Your best bet would be to contact the Union
> Pacific Railroad Museum in Council Bluff,
> Iowa. Their archives may have the answer to
> your question.

Thanks Allan. I don't know why I didn't think of that to start with. Sometimes you need to be hit over the head with a hammer to get the process started.

One of those little coincidences of life, the M1865 Springfield is alternately known as the "First Allin Conversion" (with an i, not misspelled).

kenneth.willis@marad.dot.gov

> I have just acquired a Model 1865
> Springfield rifle that was among thos given
> to the Union Pacific by the Goverment in
> 1866 for protection against indian raids.
> According to the provenance, this gun was
> assigned as equipment to Baggage Car 24.
> Does anyone know where I can locate
> information on this car, i.e., when and
> where built, when scrapped and possibly a
> picture of that car or a similar car?

Intersting. There are reproduced copies of the UP equipment list showing the renumbering done in the late 1880s.

Baggage Car 24 (old number) does not show up in that list; there is a coach #24 that was built by the UP in 1871. #23 was a coach & baggage car built by Chester Manufacturing Co. in 1867.

As I said, interesting. My guess is that something happened to old car #24 and UP built a replacement coach in 1871.

Brian Norden

> Intersting. There are reproduced copies of
> the UP equipment list showing the
> renumbering done in the late 1880s.

> Baggage Car 24 (old number) does not show up
> in that list; there is a coach #24 that was
> built by the UP in 1871. #23 was a coach
> & baggage car built by Chester
> Manufacturing Co. in 1867.

> As I said, interesting. My guess is that
> something happened to old car #24 and UP
> built a replacement coach in 1871.

> Brian Norden

That is interesting. I was going through some pictures that I have on hand last night and came up with the consist of the Last Spike Ceremony Train and there was a coach numbered 29 in the consist. I also saw a couple of cabooses (cabeese?) on construction trains numbered 14 and 15, but they were also designated "caboose" on the side of the car. In light of your info old 24 might have been a combination car. I got a letter off to the UP museum yesterday.

kenneth.willis@marad.dot.gov

Along a similar line, I had an interesting time researching some items I had received that came off Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway coach No. 212. These consisted of two cast iron decorative pieces that mounted on the car's exterior corners above the marker lamp brackets and the upper pane of the end door window, acid etched with the handle of the Western and Atlantic Railroad of the State of Georgia. I have a photograph of 212, taken in the 1950s at Paducah, Kentucky where the car spent its last years as a storage shed. In the photo, the cast iron pieces can be clearly seen but the window had been removed for safe keeping.

Curious about the car's past, I asked a friend and fellow NC historian to check his inventory of NC passenger cars, but his list (from the 1920s to present) showed no such car. Looking further into the matter, the friend I had acquired the items from found his uncle's notes on the car (his uncle was the one who collected the items). I also looked at the list of equipment in the NC's lease of the Western and Atlantic Railroad of the State of Georgia. This list, shown in J. D. B. DeBow's "Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway-Legal History of the Entire System" indicated that there was a coach No. 12 built in 1879 (if my memory is correct) which was among the equipment turned over to the NC in 1890. The notes taken by the old man at Paducah indicated that the 212 was never modified for knuckle couplers and showed no signs of air brakes either.

Looking at the numbers assigned to the ex-W&A locomotives, it became appearant that the handful of W&A passenger cars were reassigned numbers in a similar fashion. NC&StL Coach 212 was originally W&A Coach 12. It was renumbered in 1890-91 and may have been retired from passenger service as early as 1893 but was certainly retired prior to 1920. It sat for almost four decades in the Paducah yards and just after our friend obtained the pieces from the railroad, the car burned and was a total loss.

awalker1829@yahoo.com

> Along a similar line, I had an interesting
> time researching some items I had received
> that came off Nashville, Chattanooga and St.
> Louis Railway coach No. 212. These consisted
> of two cast iron decorative pieces that
> mounted on the car's exterior corners above
> the marker lamp brackets and the upper pane
> of the end door window, acid etched with the
> handle of the Western and Atlantic Railroad
> of the State of Georgia. I have a photograph
> of 212, taken in the 1950s at Paducah,
> Kentucky where the car spent its last years
> as a storage shed. In the photo, the cast
> iron pieces can be clearly seen but the
> window had been removed for safe keeping.

> Curious about the car's past, I asked a
> friend and fellow NC historian to check his
> inventory of NC passenger cars, but his list
> (from the 1920s to present) showed no such
> car. Looking further into the matter, the
> friend I had acquired the items from found
> his uncle's notes on the car (his uncle was
> the one who collected the items). I also
> looked at the list of equipment in the NC's
> lease of the Western and Atlantic Railroad
> of the State of Georgia. This list, shown in
> J. D. B. DeBow's "Nashville,
> Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway-Legal
> History of the Entire System" indicated
> that there was a coach No. 12 built in 1879
> (if my memory is correct) which was among
> the equipment turned over to the NC in 1890.
> The notes taken by the old man at Paducah
> indicated that the 212 was never modified
> for knuckle couplers and showed no signs of
> air brakes either.

> Looking at the numbers assigned to the
> ex-W&A locomotives, it became appearant
> that the handful of W&A passenger cars
> were reassigned numbers in a similar
> fashion. NC&StL Coach 212 was originally
> W&A Coach 12. It was renumbered in
> 1890-91 and may have been retired from
> passenger service as early as 1893 but was
> certainly retired prior to 1920. It sat for
> almost four decades in the Paducah yards and
> just after our friend obtained the pieces
> from the railroad, the car burned and was a
> total loss.

Notes definitely help. I'm getting some provenance material with the gun, which I hope will shed more light.

kenneth.willis@marad.dot.gov

The railroad related notes are something that I hope to lay hands on eventually. They are still in my friend's possession and some of the few things that he won't part with. I did get one of the notes passed to his uncle from noted Atlanta historian Wilbur Kurtz pertaining to the schedule of the express trains on the Western and Atlantic Railroad on April 12, 1862-the date of the Andrews Raid.

One of the few area where the notes were of no use pertained to one portrait in the material I received. After some consideration, both of us felt that the person in the photograph was almost certainly Western and Atlantic Railroad Station Agent William Whitten. My friend's uncle was also a fairly serious Civil War student and had Whitten's pardon, as well as numerous photographs of the station and hotel at Tunnel Hill, where Whitten worked from 1854-1862 and 1866-1872.

The few facts known about Agent Whitten are that he was the first station agent at Tunnel Hill and that he was arrested by federal authorities in late 1862 for being a confederate sympathizer. Following the end of the war, he sought to get his old job back. Being that the railroad was (and still is) government owned, his arrest disqualified him from government employment. He did receive a pardon from then Secretary of State Seward and eventually returned to his job as agent. All of this information and the fact that the suit worn by the man in the portrait appears appropriate for the time period led us to believe that it is Mr. Whitten beyond reasonable doubt. Some other historical photographs in my collection have similar stories, but we'll save those for another day.

awalker1829@yahoo.com

> The railroad related notes are something
> that I hope to lay hands on eventually. They
> are still in my friend's possession and some
> of the few things that he won't part with. I
> did get one of the notes passed to his uncle
> from noted Atlanta historian Wilbur Kurtz
> pertaining to the schedule of the express
> trains on the Western and Atlantic Railroad
> on April 12, 1862-the date of the Andrews
> Raid.

> One of the few area where the notes were of
> no use pertained to one portrait in the
> material I received. After some
> consideration, both of us felt that the
> person in the photograph was almost
> certainly Western and Atlantic Railroad
> Station Agent William Whitten. My friend's
> uncle was also a fairly serious Civil War
> student and had Whitten's pardon, as well as
> numerous photographs of the station and
> hotel at Tunnel Hill, where Whitten worked
> from 1854-1862 and 1866-1872.

> The few facts known about Agent Whitten are
> that he was the first station agent at
> Tunnel Hill and that he was arrested by
> federal authorities in late 1862 for being a
> confederate sympathizer. Following the end
> of the war, he sought to get his old job
> back. Being that the railroad was (and still
> is) government owned, his arrest
> disqualified him from government employment.
> He did receive a pardon from then Secretary
> of State Seward and eventually returned to
> his job as agent. All of this information
> and the fact that the suit worn by the man
> in the portrait appears appropriate for the
> time period led us to believe that it is Mr.
> Whitten beyond reasonable doubt. Some other
> historical photographs in my collection have
> similar stories, but we'll save those for
> another day.

That's a good story. Brings to mind the story about William Fuller's discharge from the "State Road" after the war and his comment about being "Fired for being a Democrat."

kenneth.willis@marad.dot.gov

> That's a good story. Brings to mind the
> story about William Fuller's discharge from
> the "State Road" after the war and
> his comment about being "Fired for
> being a Democrat."

And how true it was too. He, along with another known Western and Atlantic Railroad conductor-one Nimrod J. Bell were indeed fired for voting Democrat. Bell, unlike Fuller, was what we now call an Independant. He preferred to avoid conflict when at all possible and attempted to do so by not voting at all, until directly ordered by his superior to take his crew to the polling station and see that they cast their ballots. Following his dismissal, Bell went back to work on the Alabama and Chattanooga Railroad (later the Alabama Great Southern Railway) until he could no longer afford to work for the Stantons (they financially mismanaged the road and eventually lost control of it). He ended his days working again on the old East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia Railroad (he had previously worked for the line when it was the East Tennessee and Georgia Railroad). It should also be noted that Bell, as far as is known, was the only southern railroader from pre-Civil War days to write about his railroad career.

awalker1829@yahoo.com